A Wren Says

Now that I am on the other side of my first Hyrox experience with my finisher patch in hand, I am looking back at Hyrox Atlanta 2025 with event management eyes. I enjoyed my experience challenging myself during the race, but these are the things I noticed as part of the greater event.

Crowd Crossings

I was fascinated by the crowd crossings setup. It was a system of getting people into a corral, then diverting runner traffic to get the group safely to the other side. Someone clearly thought this through as a way to manage the flow of people throughout the arena and continue the progress of the race. However…

Confusion

With that crowd control method, I don’t know how well the staff were communicating with each other. At one point in the race, two people were pointing in one direction. Then another man was adamantly pointing to the other. Runners got backed up. If I were competitive that could have impacted my time as the situation got sorted out.  

Early athlete check-in

This billed as was a time saver, instead of waiting until the day of the event. But as someone who has gone to prerace expos, it seemed like a missed opportunity. There weren’t any vendors beyond SweatHouz and their cold plunge tanks. The rest of the empty venue was still being set-up. If you stayed close to the venue, that worked out to save you time. But for those who stayed further out, you would have had to pay parking, rideshare, or transit fees to get there and not really get your money’s worth.

Crowd Control

After I finished the race, with my legs heavy, it was not at all clear where I should go. And then I immediately had to fight through a crowd to try and navigate my way through the venue. I still don’t know if I missed an important step or missed out on an item I was supposed to receive.

Refreshments

There were electrolytes and water at the refreshment table during the race, but there was just water at the end. Meanwhile a key sponsor of the event was MyProtein. They could have provided a bar to all the racers. Or at the very least, there could have been bananas or a sport hydration product with carbs to help athletes recover.

Sponsor activations

SweatHouz and MyProtein were sponsors of the event. But when I did make my way through the crowds to their booths they weren’t very engaging. The SweatHouz area was closed with a line of people waiting to go in. Those post race cold plunges and massages were definitely not happening. Meanwhile the MyProtein booth was staffed, but they weren’t talking to anyone. It was as if there was special code or moment that they were waiting for. That seemed like missed opportunities to engage new potential customers. Had I had a chance to try their stuff, I would have been much more likely to buy their products later. However, Go Brewing was there with samples, and I will look for them as a non-alcoholic beer option.

While I believe they (mostly) did a great job putting on the race itself, these surround pieces let me wanting. Getting the activations and crowd control right could enhance the experience for everyone. I would have a better time as an athlete and a spectator and be willing to return. The sponsor would get more engagement and return on all the money they would have spent to get the deal.

With these critiques, I would still do another race. I imagine this might be the growing pains of a new host city. I imagine the experience would be different at a different location, and I’m willing to try that out. But if you have participated in Hyrox before, let me know what your race day experience was like.